10 Most Revolutionary Individuals In Wrestling History

One of the most common expressions used these days it the term ‘Divas Revolution’. Of course, the idea of women being skilled, main-event-calibre wrestlers isn't a new phenomenon; long before there was the ‘Four Horsewomen’, there was a group of Japanese women who revolutionized the art of female wrestling like never before, and at its helm was Manami Toyota.

Toyota, along with Kyoko Inoue, Aja Kong, and Akira Hokuto, were putting on some of the best matches on the entire planet during the early 1990s. Though all of them were incredibly skilled, Toyota was the technical master, excelling in everything from submission holds, to over-the-top diving moves, to impressive suplex variations, to some of the most dangerous maneuvers ever created.

Her style led to a new kind of appreciation for women’s wrestling: because of her smaller frame, she was able to do things that her physically-larger counterparts couldn’t. Her high-flying, athleticism-oriented style is the direct precursor to the style of wrestling seen in, among other places, TNA’s X-Division.

To this day, Toyota is the only woman in history to win WON’s ‘Most Outstanding Wrestler’ award, an honor shared by Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan, A.J. Styles, and other known technical masters. So for all those out there who’re enjoying the current ‘revolution’ in WWE, bear in mind that WWE are simply doing what Manami Toyota and company did twenty years ago.